Parrot CK3100 hands-free in 2007 Civic EX sedan

[Igmeister]

The following are installation instructions of a hands-free Bluetooth device that integrates with factory non-navigation stereo. The functionality of this device is following:

1. Once the phone is paired with the Parrot device each time you enter the vehicle with the phone it automatically connects with the phone after the car is started.
2. The Parrot display then indicates the phone’s signal, battery life, and carrier.
3. All the phone umbers in the address book are transferred to the device so you can dial those numbers by scrolling through the list.
4. Voice dialing is also supported, although I did not test it yet.
5. When a phone call comes in the radio is muted and the caller ID is displayed. You can choose to answer by pressing a green “answer” button or ignore it by pressing a red “hang up” button.
6. When you are finished using the phone press the red button and the device will un-mute your stereo.
7. When you turn the car off the hands-free display will disconnect and a “Goodbye” message will be displayed before it shuts off.

Purchased items:
1. Parrot CK3100 hands-free $130 plus shipping on EBay from “btpros”.

2. BT1722 Harness for 2006 and up Civic (it turns out that the harness is made by Kram Telecom in Denmark and their number for it is 86131). BT1722 is a Metra number. I bought the harness on EBay as well for $56.95 plus shipping. Even thought the harness seems very expensive it is well worth the price since it makes the installation so much easier and no cable splicing is necessary.

My total cost of the items with shipping was $210.44.

The installation:

1. First disconnect the negative connector on the battery. (10mm socket)

2. Next I decided to mount the microphone in the map light assembly behind the perforated area. This makes the mic completely hidden from view. I guess this is where the stock microphone is located in the navigation models. The instructions specifically say not to install the mic close to air vents. Even thought the display unit comes with several mounting brackets that allow integration of mic right on the display I did not like that idea. That is why I chose to install it overhead. This makes for a little more work but I feel that the result is well worth the effort.

Since we need to have the mic cable down in the dash, the first order of business is to install the mic and run the cable. First remove the lenses on the map lights by gently prying off the light lenses in the hinge area. Remove the two screws that secure the entire light / switch assembly and gently pull it downwards. Disconnect the cables for the lights and sunroof (if applicable) and remove the assembly.

Next, remove the switch assembly by gently pressing 4 tabs securing it in place while gently pushing the assembly out.

Once it is out you will notice a small post with a narrow gap behind it (see picture 1 below). This gap will fit the small mic mounting bracket perfectly. The fit is tight and it will ensure that the bracket does not come out. Before I pushed the bracket in I peeled off the adhesive backing. It looked like the adhesive does not contact the side of the switch assembly so it was probably not necessary. Next, snap the mic on the bracket as shown in the picture 2.

Then snap the switch assembly back in the map light assembly making sure that it is oriented correctly and route the mic wire out. Afterwards, connect the wire harnesses for the map light assembly and the sun roof. Now you can push down the headliner through the map light hole and route the mic wire with jack end through the headliner towards the windshield. Fish the wire by the windshield and reinstall the map light assembly.

I decided to run the wire to the left and down driver’s side A-pillar since I had to pull off the dash panels around the steering wheel to get the radio out. The other side has an air bag so I decided to stay away from it. I used a small flat blade screw driver to push the wire gently behind the headliner and behind the A-pillar trim. This microphone installation and routing the cable was much easier than I anticipated. The entire step 2 took only about 15 minutes. Before you can finish running the mic wire you need to pull off the dash panels in the step 3 and then push the A-pilar trim away from the dash so you can gently insert the microphone wire between the trim and the dash.

3. Dash panel removal.

Remove the kick panel under the steering wheel. Start at the bottom left corner of the steering column panel and pry towards you, (move the steering column panel as far up and out as you can). Once you get the first clip off it is easy to get the rest.

Underneath the steering column there is a screw securing the driver’s side of dash cover. Remove this screw. Lower and pull out the steering wheel to give you more room to pull the dash cover off.

Tug on the lower left end of the left dash cover and work your way around until all the clips are off. Remove the cover. Next, remove the 3 screws securing the speedo cover and then unsnap and remove the cover. This is necessary to complete running the mic cable behind the radio panel.

Using a flat head screwdriver pop out the panel under the stock radio near the shifter. There are 2 screws at the top of the front console pocket hole that are difficult to see. These screws secure the radio panel in place along with 11 clips. After you remove the two screws with a socket wrench pull on the left side of the radio panel to loosen it and work your way towards the top and middle of the panel until all the clips are off. The lower right clip can be a bit stubborn so I used a flat blade screwdriver to help me with it. I was careful not to leave any marks on the panel. The screwdriver helped and the last clip pulled out without any force. With the radio panel loose remove all the wire harness connectors – emergency flashers, air bag indicator and 3 plugs on the radio.


4. Wiring

With the radio out assemble the Parrot wire harness by connecting the Parrot mute and power cables into the brain unit and the other ends of the cables into BT1722 harness.
BT1722 harness has one (pink) cable unplugged. This is wired into pin 5 on the radio plug which is the phone mute cable. It took me a while to confirm that this was the right cable. The Parrot mute cable has a yellow wire that needs to be connected to another of 3 wires. I chose a yellow for simplicity’s sake since the pink wire was not connected and I connected it to a connector port that was matching up with the yellow wire. See picture # 3.

Another consideration is constant and ignition connected 12 Volt power. On Civic those are reversed so the solution that Parrot recommends is to reverse the tops of the fuse box wires so that red wire has an orange wire top and vice versa. This ensures that the constant 12V memory backup is properly connected and your battery is not drained (powering the unit even when the ignition is off). Correctly wired unit will disconnect when the ignition is off and the Parrot displays “Good bye”.

Once all was wired like this, I secured the brain box with all the mute and power wires under the radio.

5. Display unit
I decided to place the display in the empty cubby (where the optional fog light switch is located). Since I was not planning to ever install the fogs I decided to utilize this space for “sort-of factory look”.
This requires cutting a little opening in the bottom portion of the cubby box. First, I removed the cubby from the dash panel. It is secured with 3 screws and to clips. I used Dremmel with a narrow grinding tip on a slow speed to cut the opening. See picture #4.

Then I secured a metal bracket to the top of the inside of the cubby with a double-sided sticky tape and used a Velcro strip with an adhesive backing to attach the display to the bracket. See picture # 5.

Then I installed the cubby in the dash panel, routed the wire over the top of the inside of the dash panel and tucked it behind a plastic tab so it does not rattle there.

6. Completing the installation
The rest you can figure out easily. Install the speedo cover after the mic cable is routed. Connect the BT1722 harness into the radio. The tough part is to connect the Parrot display wire and mic cable into the Parrot brain when it is already attached under the radio since there is not much space on either side. I had to cut one cable tie and twist it out to accomplish this and then reattach a new cable tie on the brain box after the cables were connected. Then I connected all the connectors at the back of the radio and snapped the radio panel back in its place. Finally install the upper dash panel and then the lower panel. With the battery reconnected test the radio and the hands-free.

[Hostage46]

Excellent write up. Stupid question, but I assume with the harness, the BT will come through the car stereo system? No need to go to aux or whatever?

Looks a little intimidating pulling the dash apart... but I really need BT.

How does is work at highway speed? Can people on the other end hear you OK with the mike overheard?

Dan in Dallas....

[ocdcivic]

Do we know if this will work with the Nav?


Edit: Great install BTW

[habitat]

wow! a bit pricey but very nice and clean install! Makes my 80 dollar headset look like a pos...

[smarsh]

I have a Parrot 6000 hooked in to my Avic Z1/2 and works great.... MUCH better than the awful BT implementation on the Avic.

[Hostage46]

Ordered a Parrot and harness.... thinking about doing this myself, a little worried about the pillar with the airbag inside

[zelmac]

Originally Posted by Hostage46

Ordered a Parrot and harness.... thinking about doing this myself, a little worried about the pillar with the airbag inside

The airbag is not behind the pillar...

I have installed the CK3000 evolution and did't use the harness, I just spliced the cables.

[drexp2000]

Still curious if this works for the navi units?